Recommended Reading

from Bruce

Paul Krugman: Elizabeth Warren and Her Party of Ideas (NY Times)
And Warren's continuing to throw out unorthodox policy ideas, like her proposal that the federal government be allowed to get into the business of producing some generic drugs. This is the sort of thing that brings howls of derision from the right, but that actual policy experts consider a valuable contribution to the discussion. Warren's achievements as a scholar/policymaker are central to her political identity, and clearly should be front and center in any reporting about her presidential bid. But, of course, they aren't. What I'm seeing are stories about whether she handled questions about her Native American heritage well, or whether she's " likable."

Clare Coffey: Of Fairies and Dragons (Weekly Standard)
One night in 1692, Kirk went out in his nightshirt for an evening stroll to the local fairy fort. He did not return alive. Nor is Kirk the only fairy amateur to meet a strange or untimely end after depicting the gentry in some way. The artist Richard Dadd painted the frenetic and arresting The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke in one insane asylum and then died in another asylum. Which direction the causality goes is for the reader to decide. But some accounts of fairy encounters include threats of reprisal upon publicity; fairies don't like snitches any more than we do.

Will Lloyd: Make America smoke again (New Statesman)
Let us hope, for the sanity of the elites, if not for their health, that in the year to come we see the stigmata of the true smoker - yellow nails, papery skin and phlegmy coughing - come to replace the tedious health fashions and social media whinging that have gone on far too long. Then, perhaps, they will understand the wisdom of Robert Musil, who once wrote that 'life is an unpleasant affair that we can get through by means of smoking.' It'll certainly help them get through the next two years of Trump.

"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today

Trivia Question of the Day

In August 1965, this duo's first single, and their signature song, spent three weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Later it served as the theme song of their TV show. What is the title of the song?

Trivia Question from Yesterday

Shining Time Station, an American children's television series, contains episodes of "Thomas (the Tank Engine) & Friends", that are introduced by Mr. Conductor. In the first year, Mr. Conductor was portrayed by Ringo Starr. Who replaced Ringo as Mr. Conductor?

Shining Time Station is an American children's television series jointly created by British television producer Britt Allcroft and Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by The Britt Allcroft Company(now Gullane Entertainment, a subsidiary of HiT Entertainment) and Quality Family Entertainment in New York City for New York City's PBS station WNET, and was originally taped in New York City during its first season and in Toronto during the rest of its run. It incorporated sequences from the British television show Thomas & Friends, which was in turn based on a series of books that had been written by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry. The series aired on PBS from January 29, 1989 until June 11, 1993, and then continued on the network in reruns until June 11, 1998.

After the success of Thomas & Friends in the United Kingdom, Britt Allcroft and her production company teamed up with PBS station WNET in New York City to produce and distribute the sitcom-esque Shining Time Station, every episode of which would include a couple of episodes of Thomas & Friends. The series starred Ringo Starr, George Carlin, Didi Conn, Brian O'Connor, and The Flexitoon Puppets. Ringo Starr, who had already been providing the voice of the storyteller for the British series, agreed to extend the role to include the on-screen character called Mr. Conductor in Shining Time Station. He later left the show and was replaced by George Carlin.
Source

'Shining Time Station' was one of the kid's favorites, and he loved George Carlin as Mr. Conductor.

We also had HBO and he recognized George Carlin in a promo for a special.

We explained that the HBO George Carlin was ONLY for grown-ups, and Mr. Conductor was George Carlin for kids.

We found out he'd been sneak-watching HBO Carlin when his kindergarten teacher called and told us how he'd performed the entire show for his class.

The teacher was remarkably cool about the situation, but stressed that she did not want an encore performance.

She also said the kid had Carlin's routine down verbatim.

Alan J was first, and correct, with:
George Carlin.

Gene said:
George Carlin

Mark. answered:
George Carlin.

Randall wrote:
George Carlin

Kevin K. (Back in) Washington, DC, replied:
Ringo was replaced by George Carlin, man. That's a lot of weed and blow consumed by the Conductors. It's like they could have called it, "Dude, Where's My Tank Engine?"

mj responded:
Whoever ran casting
For that show was a genius. First, Richard Starkey (Ringo) then George
Carlin.

zorch wrote:
George Carlin replaced Ringo Starr.

Mac Mac said:
George Carlin

Dave replied:
George Carlin. That was on when my boys were little but I don't remember them watching it. Must not have been exciting enough for ADHD bouncing of the walls crazy kids?

Deborah responded:
My kids were too old for Shining Time Station, so we didn't watch it. The mighty Wiki tells me that George Carlin replaced Ringo Starr as Mr. Conductor. Had I known that, I might have watched it myself.
More rain, after an overcast but dry day. Time to hit the gym.

Dave in Tucson said:
Ringo's replacement as Mr. Conductor was George Carlin?

Billy in Cypress U$A wrote:
Wiki says: George Carlin

Daniel in The City answered:
George Carlin

Jim from CA, retired to ID responded:
George Carlin

Cal in Vermont replied:
The late, great George Carlin who probably didn't say any of the 7 bad words you can't (well, couldn't back then anyway) say on TV during his tenure at Shining Time Station.

Joe S said:
I don't know. I don't have any little kids. My youngest is 48.
Barney do you know any kid shows?

from Bruce

Anecdotes

 Jamie Kaler starred in the TBS comedy My Boys, on which he played Mike Callahan. In his life, he has shown a lot of persistence. After resigning his commission in the United States Navy, he wanted a job in a certain bar on the beach at San Diego. The bar did not have any job openings, but he returned to seek employment at the bar 27 days in a row, and the bar hired him. He started taking acting classes, and he started acting in commercials, including a commercial for Sea World: "All I did was watch Shamu jump, and that was it. But I made a boatload of money off it, and I immediately thought, 'This is going to be the easiest profession ever.' But I didn't get another job for a year." He also learned early to live life. In San Diego, he roomed with John David Lenz, a dedicated actor who died young: "I'd wake up on a Saturday morning having bartended and been out drinking, and he'd be playing Henry V and quoting the movie with Laurence Olivier. And he ended up dying. He got shot [ ] walking to his car, a random shooting by a 15-year-old girl. So I had to come home to the apartment and pack up his stuff, sell his car and had to help his parents take all his stuff out of the house. And then we all went back to Kansas for the funeral. I think after that I was, 'Man, I've got to get busy living. It's all going to end.'" He kept acting, picking up more and more roles, but he never officially quit his night-time bartending job: "Finally the owner called and said, 'Dude, you haven't worked in nine months, do you still work here?' I said, 'No, I guess I don't.'"

 Celebrity photography can be an art, and photographers appreciate actresses who truly know what kind of makeup works for them. In 1944, Ingrid Bergman had a sitting with celebrity photographer John Engstead, who had been told by David Selznick's assistant producer William Perreira, "We're going to change Ingrid Bergman's image. We're going to glamorize her a new makeup, a new hairstyle, and a new wardrobe, and we'd like you to photograph her." Mr. Engstead set up his lights while Ms. Bergman's image was changed, and eventually the "transforming" man came out of the "transforming" room and told him, "She's changing. She looks great. I changed her eyebrows, added false lashes, and shaded the face." When Ms. Bergman came out, however, she did not look transformed-she looked like the same beautiful Ingrid Bergman. She explained, 'I don't mind trying something new, but I think I know what is best for me and this glamour makeup is not right. I look better with nothing on my face." After the transformation, Ms. Bergman had washed off the makeup and combed her hair in her own way. Of course, she was beautiful and she looked beautiful, and her photographs that day showed her beauty.

 Too often, Hollywood has stereotyped actors and actresses, sometimes because of their ethnicity. Anna May Wong played many, many Oriental stereotypes in the 1930s, something she disliked. So, of course, did other actors and actresses with Asian features (or makeup that made them appear Oriental). Once, Ms. Wong said, "Why is it that the screen Chinese is nearly always the villain? And so crude a villain. Murderous, treacherous, a snake in the grass. We are not like that. How should we be, with a civilization that is so many times older than that of the west?" In 1960, after appearing seldom in movies for two decades, she played Lana Turner's housekeeper in Portrait in Black. Again, the stereotypes came out, this time from the publicity department, which explained Ms. Wong's long absence from the screen by passing along a proverb that supposedly had been taught to Ms. Wong by her mother, "Don't be photographed too much or you'll lose your soul." Ms. Wong's own explanation was this: "I was so tired of the parts I had to play."

 Amy Ryan admires director Sidney Lumet, working with him on the TV series 100 Centre Street and the movie Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. According to Ms. Ryan, "The great gift from Sidney, among many, is he really feels actors can do no wrong." As evidence, she cites the example of her appearing on his TV series 100 Centre Street in one episode, and only three episodes later being asked to appear again in the series, but playing a different character. She said in answer to Mr. Lumet's request, "Sidney, yes, of course, thanks, but how am I going to pull this off?" He replied, "You're a good enough actor-you'll figure it out." According to Ms. Ryan, "If that man can give the OK to that, you think, 'Oh wow, maybe I can do anything.'"

Selected Readings

JD is on vacation.

In The Chaos Household

Last Night

Sunny and seasonal.

Tonight, Wednesday:

CBS starts the night with a RERUN'Big Bang Theory', followed by a RERUN'Young Sheldon', then a FRESH'SWAT Team', followed by a FRESH'Criminal Minds'.
Scheduled on a FRESHStephen Colbert are Kevin Hart and Nicole Byer.
Scheduled on a FRESHJames Corden, OBE, are Amy Adams, Tyler Perry, and Mekki Leeper.

NBC opens the night with a FRESH'Chicago Med', followed by a FRESH'Chicago Fire', then a FRESH'Chicago PD'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Gwyneth Paltrow, Tony Hale, and Trippie Redd.
Scheduled on a FRESHSeth Meyers are Andy Samberg, Josh Hutcherson, and Charlie Hall.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 11/9/18) are Mira Sorvino, Houndmouth, and Daniel Ezra.

ABC begins the night with a FRESH'The Goldbergs', followed by a FRESH'Schooled', then a FRESH'Modern Family', followed by a FRESH'Single Parents', then a FRESH'Match Game'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Mahershala Ali, Maura Tierney, and Jeff Tweedy.

The CW offers a RERUN'All American', followed by another RERUN'All American'.

Faux has a FRESH'Gordon Ramsey's 24 Hours To Hell & Back', followed by a FRESH'The Masked Singer'.

Hiring Federal Employees During Shutdown

Jimmy Kimmel

On Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel opened the show discussing Day 17 of the government shutdown and his resolution for the nearly 800,000 federal employees not being paid.

President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Flaccid) and congressional Democrats have made little progress in negotiations to end the shutdown - and the employees are feeling it.

"Humpty Trumpty is very focused on his wall," Kimmel said. Government employees going without pay is "what Donald Trump does best," he added. "Not paying the people who work for him - that is where he shines."

"It's unfortunate that these people, these workers who have nothing to do with this ridiculous wall, aren't getting paychecks, especially right after the holidays," he said. "So, I wanted to do our part to pitch in. Tonight, and every night until the shutdown is over, we're going to put a federal employee to work here at the show."

Kimmel wasted no time, immediately inviting out his first hire - John Kostelnik, a local union president and federal law enforcement officer at the prison in Victorville, Calif.

Rescues Endangered Bookstore

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is not throwing away his shot at becoming a bookstore owner.

The composer and playwright, whose musical "Hamilton" became a worldwide phenomenon after its Broadway debut in 2015, teamed up with three of his friends to buy the Drama Book Shop in Manhattan, the New York Times reports.

The store has long been a stalwart of New York's theater community. It was founded in 1917, according to the store's website, and has changed locations several times. The bookseller moved to its current space on West 40th Street in 2001. The shop won a special Tony Award in 2011.

Miranda told the New York Times that the store was important to him, and noted he wrote much of "In the Heights," his first musical, in the store's basement, which is also home to a 50-seat theater.

"When I was in high school I would go to the old location and sit on the floor and read plays - I didn't have the money to buy them," Miranda said.

TCL Chinese

Sam Elliott

Veteran actor Sam Elliott imprinted his hands and feet in cement on Hollywood Boulevard on Monday, as "A Star is Born" co-stars Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper shook off Golden Globes disappointment to join in honoring the 74-year-old's long career.

Known for his lanky physique, thick mustache and languid drawl, Elliott reflected on his life's work and the joy of acting, telling reporters: "The people you work with, the community... and feeling like you're doing something that makes a difference to somebody" made it all worthwhile.

"A Star is Born" may have struck out at the Golden Globes the night before, picking up just one trophy for best song, but Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper were all smiles as they came to show their support for Elliott, who plays Cooper's elder brother in the film.

Elliott got his start with minor roles in late 60s Westerns such as "The Way West" (1967) and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," but it wasn't until the 1980s that his career took off in a big way in the "Mask" and "Road House."

While he wasn't nominated at the Golden Globes, industry magazine Variety reported the actor seems poised to land his first Oscar nomination for what it called his "tender performance" in "A Star is Born."

Renewed For 55th Season

'Days Of Our Lives'

"Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives." The longest-running series on NBC is not going anytime soon. NBC has renewed the multi-Emmy-winning daytime soap Days of Our Lives for a record 55th season.

The show continues to be a solid ratings draw. The 53rd season (September 2017-September 2018) saw a 4% increase in total viewers (2.55 million vs. 2.45 million in live + 7 per Nielsen Media Research) vs. the previous season.

"It's a great day in Salem! The sands in the hourglass will continue to flow for yet another year," said executive producer Ken Corday. "We're grateful to NBC and Sony for their continued support of the show and, of course, to our dedicated and passionate fans, we owe it all to you. Thank you for taking us through our 55th season. We can't wait for you to see what we have in store."

Days of our Lives, which aired its 13,500th episode in 2018, first premiered as a half-hour drama in 1965 and expanded to an hour 10 years later. The show has garnered 57 Emmy Awards, including most recently 2015 and 2018's Outstanding Daytime Drama, and 323 nominations, as well as multiple People's Choice Awards, GLAAD Media Awards and Prism Awards.

Set in the fictitious Midwestern town of Salem, Days of our Lives airs nationally on NBC in the United States and in more than 25 countries internationally. The core families are the Bradys, Hortons and DiMeras, and the multi-layered storylines involve elements of romance, adventure, mystery, comedy and drama.

Diplomatic Status Quietly Demoted

European Ambassador

Brussels has expressed fury after the diplomatic status of the European Union's ambassador to the US was quietly downgraded by the Trump administration.

The move sees the EU's delegation to America relegated from a member state to an international organisation by the US State Department.

An EU spokesperson told The Independent the 28-member bloc was not notified by Washington over the unannounced "recent change", and that officials were in discussion with their US counterparts over "possible implications" for the delegation in Washington.

German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), which first covered the downgrading of ties, reported another official as saying it had "not been well received" in Brussels.

The demotion apparently only came to the attention of EU officials when the ambassador to Washington, David O'Sullivan, was not invited to certain events last year.

Phones And The Antichrist

Patriarch Kirill

Phones and other smart devices are bringing humanity closer to the arrival of the antichrist, according to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The data-gathering capacity of the devices are helping create a vast web of information that could be used to control people, he said.

In an interview shown Monday on state TV, Patriarch Kirill said the church does not oppose technological progress but is concerned that "someone can know exactly where you are, know exactly what you are interested in, know exactly what you are afraid of" and that such information could be used for centralized control of the world.

"Control from one point is a foreshadowing of the coming of Antichrist, if we talk about the Christian view. Antichrist is the person who will be at the head of the world wide web that controls the entire human race," he said.

He seemed to suggest that a better approach would be to spread the kinds of data that we collect around the internet. "If we don't want to bring the apocalypse closer, there should be no single [control] centre," Patriarch Kirill said in the interview.

Golden Globes Congratulations

Christian Bale

The Church of Satan lauded Christian Bale's "talent and skill" as they congratulated him on his Golden Globe win, for which he thanked Satan.

Bale scooped the gong for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy at the ceremony for his role as Dick Cheney in biopic Vice.

Revelling in the mention, the Church of Satan later tweeted: "To us, Satan is a symbol of pride, liberty and individualism, and it serves as an external metaphorical projection of our highest personal potential.

The actor said: "Thank you to that geezer over there Adam [McKay]. He said I have to find somebody that can be absolutely charisma-free and reviled by everybody so we wanted Christian Bale in it. Thank you.

"And for all the competition I will be cornering the market on charisma-free a********. What do you think, Mitch McConnell next? That would be good, wouldn't it? Thank you to Satan for giving me inspiration for playing this role."

Whether To Hold 'Em Or Fold 'Em

Poker

Picture yourself at a Las Vegas poker table, holding a bad hand-one with a very low chance of winning. Even so, the sight of the large stack of chips that piled up during a recent lucky streak nudges you to place a large bet anyway.

Why do people make high-risk decisions-not only in casinos, but also in other aspects of their lives-even when they know the odds are stacked against them?

A team led by a Johns Hopkins biomedical engineer has found that the decision to "up the ante" even in the face of long odds is the result of an internal bias that adds up over time and involves a "push-pull" dynamic between the brain's two hemispheres.

Whether you are suffering from a losing streak or riding a wave of wins, your cumulative feelings from each preceding hand all contribute to this nudge factor, they say. A paper on the study is to be published online the week of Jan. 7 by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"What we learned is that there is a bias that develops over time that may make people view risk differently," said senior author Sridevi Sarma, a biomedical engineering professor at the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering and member of its Institute for Computational Medicine. Pierre Sacré, a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins, co-led the study.

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